I had a significant experience in high school that, along with other experiences, would lead me to question the structure of the current educational system and fuel my interest in educational reform. I opted to take a Mechanical Drawing class my senior year. My guidance counselor advised against it because it was a class typically taken by students on the vocational or non-college track. I essentially got the message that the class was not for people like me, i.e. those with enough intelligence, motivation and drive to pursue college. However, I had always struggled with spatial relations and I had always been interested in learning new things and challenging myself. I had a lot of freedom to take electives my senior year and I wanted to explore subjects that were new and interesting to me. Even before I took the class I thought my guidance counselor was being narrow minded in suggesting that it might not be appropriate for me.
Despite being a straight A student in every other class, and the class valedictorian, I really struggled in this class. It was pretty clear from the beginning that I would likely be a B student. It was difficult for me to take 3-dimensional objects and draw them on a 2 dimensional plane. Perhaps if I had really worked hard at it I could have gotten an A but, after all, it was just an elective, so I didn’t. All my other classes came so easily to me that this was the first time I really had to decide whether or not to go that extra mile to get the A. I did enjoy pushing myself a little and I learned something about a new area I had never explored before, but I was fine with a B. The most important thing I learned, however, had to do with educational system itself.
I was in class with a group of students that I rarely saw because we were not on the same “track.” I was astounded at the high level of learning and knowledge that went into this Mechanical Drawing. It was clear to me that these were the types of skills that would be needed by mechanical engineers, architects and other important fields. Why, then, did our school and guidance counselors give us the impression that these classes were for the kids who were not academically adept, not motivated, not engaged? They were clearly engaged in this class, and it was difficult. And they were better at it than me. I got the sense from my peers that they enjoyed seeing the valedictorian struggle with something that came fairly easily to them. I enjoyed learning that as well. It became crystal clear to me that we were using the wrong measures of intelligence and sending the wrong messages to students. It was kind of heart breaking actually, considering the vast majority of these students came from low-income backgrounds. I began to think of other friends of mine, those that were B students but perhaps had another talent such as being incredibly nurturing or kind or a beautiful singer. Why were these talents valued less than being a good writer or being able to memorize parts of the body in biology class? This was perplexing for two reasons. One – it was negatively impacting the self-esteem of a whole group of students unnecessarily. Two - these other skills that the school was clearly labeling as “less than” were, and are, very much needed in our society.
Ever since this experience, combined with some other experiences I had in high school, I have been interested in models of education that enable students to explore areas of interest to them, particularly in real world learning situations and to be have those areas weighted as heavily as traditional subjects. I have also been interested in evaluation systems that take the whole child into account and put value on skills like being a friend and a good team member.
I had a significant experience in high school that, along with other experiences, would lead me to question the structure of the current educational system and fuel my interest in educational reform. I opted to take a Mechanical Drawing class my senior year. My guidance counselor advised against it because it was a class typically taken by students on the vocational or non-college track. I essentially got the message that the class was not for people like me, i.e. those with enough intelligence, motivation and drive to pursue college. However, I had always struggled with spatial relations and I had always been interested in learning new things and challenging myself. I had a lot of freedom to take electives my senior year and I wanted to explore subjects that were new and interesting to me. Even before I took the class I thought my guidance counselor was being narrow minded in suggesting that it might not be appropriate for me.
Despite being a straight A student in every other class, and the class valedictorian, I really struggled in this class. It was pretty clear from the beginning that I would likely be a B student. It was difficult for me to take 3-dimensional objects and draw them on a 2 dimensional plane. Perhaps if I had really worked hard at it I could have gotten an A but, after all, it was just an elective, so I didn’t. All my other classes came so easily to me that this was the first time I really had to decide whether or not to go that extra mile to get the A. I did enjoy pushing myself a little and I learned something about a new area I had never explored before, but I was fine with a B. The most important thing I learned, however, had to do with educational system itself.
I was in class with a group of students that I rarely saw because we were not on the same “track.” I was astounded at the high level of learning and knowledge that went into this Mechanical Drawing. It was clear to me that these were the types of skills that would be needed by mechanical engineers, architects and other important fields. Why, then, did our school and guidance counselors give us the impression that these classes were for the kids who were not academically adept, not motivated, not engaged? They were clearly engaged in this class, and it was difficult. And they were better at it than me. I got the sense from my peers that they enjoyed seeing the valedictorian struggle with something that came fairly easily to them. I enjoyed learning that as well. It became crystal clear to me that we were using the wrong measures of intelligence and sending the wrong messages to students. It was kind of heart breaking actually, considering the vast majority of these students came from low-income backgrounds. I began to think of other friends of mine, those that were B students but perhaps had another talent such as being incredibly nurturing or kind or a beautiful singer. Why were these talents valued less than being a good writer or being able to memorize parts of the body in biology class? This was perplexing for two reasons. One – it was negatively impacting the self-esteem of a whole group of students unnecessarily. Two - these other skills that the school was clearly labeling as “less than” were, and are, very much needed in our society.
Ever since this experience, combined with some other experiences I had in high school, I have been interested in models of education that enable students to explore areas of interest to them, particularly in real world learning situations and to be have those areas weighted as heavily as traditional subjects. I have also been interested in evaluation systems that take the whole child into account and put value on skills like being a friend and a good team member.